A Mutant's Nightmare
by Wild Craze
Summary: Logan brings back a boy to the school, who has a mutation similar to Rogue's except that his is much more dangerous. He harms not only by the touch, but also by the sight, the voice, the thought... (not an X2 sequel) R/R!
1. Default Chapter

This isn't a Logan / Rogue story. Its not even going to be romance. I have no idea why I wrote this and I don't even know if this fic has a future. Tell me if you ^want^ there to be a future to this.  
  
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It was already eleven o'clock at night when Kitty walked right through the hallway wall, into the room she was sharing with Rogue and Jubilee, her two best friends. Her eyes adapted to the darkness and she immediately realized that one of her roommates was missing. The first empty bed was hers, Jubilee was sleeping like a baby in the second, but the third and last one, located next to the window, was empty. She walked around her bed, but sighed and turned around to walk through the wall again. Her blue pyjamas shimmered lightly as she jogged down the dark hallway. She knew there was only one place where her friend would be. Rogue always went there when she wanted to be alone and in peace: the room Logan had used when he had arrived with her. Rogue had obliged Jean not to touch it. She was the only one that went in it, as a mater of fact. Kitty turned into a perpendicular hallway, carefully passing Scott and Jean's room. She knew it was very risky to pass in front of a psychic's room, knowing that you weren't doing something called 'legal'. Sneaking out of the dorms after the 'lights out' wasn't exactly allowed.  
  
Kitty turned a few hallways and finally arrived in front of the door she wanted to reach. As she expected, the door was ajar and the light inside was on. She peeked through it, deciding not to barge in from the wall. She saw Rogue, sitting on the end of the bed. She didn't turn to look at Kitty, and it was as if she hadn't noticed her coming in. Kitty stared at her, pity in her eyes. Rogue stood there, staring at the pillow, her hands crisped in front of her, holding onto the chain Wolverine had given to her before his departure, equalling to three months. Her head moved sideways, as she looked at the other things in the room. Silently, Kitty walked towards her friend and when she reached her, placed her hand on her covered shoulder.  
  
Rogue jumped and nearly screamed in surprise as she turned around to see who was there. She brought her hand to her chest when she saw it was just Kitty. She gasped a few times, looking stunned. When she stopped, she discretely grabbed the chain she had dropped beside her, and hid it in her pocket hoping Kitty hadn't noticed too much.  
  
"Kitty!" she said finally. "What . . . euh . . ."  
  
"Rogue, why do you come here?" he friend asked impatiently. "You're supposed to be sleeping! Not here, thinking about that guy. Gees, why are you so attached to him?"  
  
Rogue stared at her for a few moments, her eyes throwing thunderbolts. A tinge of red appeared on her cheeks as she rose.  
  
"I was just thinking, okay?" she said savagely. "I miss him, that's all. I like coming here because it reminds me of him."  
  
Kitty sighed deeply and nodded in disapproval as she walked slowly to the door, followed by Rogue.  
  
"Have you asked the Professor to find him with Cerebro?" she asked. "Maybe he could help you, and tell him to come back."  
  
"I already tried," Rogue said, turning off the light and walking out of the room. "He doesn't want to track Logan. He said that he'll come back if he wants too. I still know he will since he promised me, but time passes very slowly."  
  
"I understand, but you have to try to think of something else, for a change," Kitty said smoothly, patting her on the back.  
  
Rogue sighed and held on to Kitty's arm as they crossed a few walls together, avoiding to pass in front of Jean's room. They arrived in their room and after tucking in Rogue, Kitty went to bed herself, a light smile on her lips.  
  
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I'm just asking for a review. 


	2. Back

This is chapter two of the story that I thought wouldn't go anywhere.  
  
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The next morning, Kitty was woken by Jubilee's cheerful shouts. She opened her eyes, smiling at the sight of the young woman jumping up and down on her bed, her flashy pink pyjamas sticking out like an ink spot on a white blouse. In fact, Jubilee herself was a person born to stick out. Always wearing flashy clothes, always shouting and singing, and most of all, always in a happy mood. Kitty listened to her blabbing for a moment.  
  
"Rise n'shine everyone! It's Friday! Scott's making breakfast! They'll be bacon and eggs and toasts and ham and juice and sausages and. well if you don't get up now, they'll be nothing left! Come on Kitty, Rogue, Good morning America!"  
  
Jubilee started to do jumping-jacks up to the bathroom.  
  
"Get Up!" she shouted before slamming the door.  
  
Now chuckling, both Kitty and Rogue got up, stretched and started looking in their respective drawers for clothes. Rogue chose bell- bottomed jeans and a marine pullover. Of course, she had her gloves on. Kitty preferred choosing a white tank-top with light blue vest, and a pair of dark-blue jeans.  
  
Rogue looked out the window and announced in a rather amused tone that it had stopped raining. Storm had created a rainstorm that had lasted a whole week, because of the heat wave that had attacked Westchester these past days. She said that she didn't want her plants to die. Finally, the students would be able to go back outside.  
  
They waited for Jubilee to finish getting ready, then descended together to the first floor. They ate breakfast together with the boys, John and Bobby, then went to their first class, witch was history with miss Monroe. They studied the downfall of the Roman Empire for two hours, then were given their morning break. Everyone, absolutely everyone went outside. Most of the boys went to the basketball court to play a game, but some just wandered around. Kitty, Jubilee and Rogue just walked around the mansion, talking about anything that came up in their mind. They walked a couple of times around the gardens, followed the cemented path and their wandering brought them in front of the main gate. Rogue was arguing with Jubilee about something like which came first: the egg or the chicken; when Kitty screamed. The two girls looked where she was and saw someone's body lying on the pavement, his clothes drenched with the water that had poured all night. They both stopped themselves from screaming also, but Kitty had already alerted what looked to be a black figure that stood not too far away from the wet body. It jumped backwards at the sight of the girls and ran away behind a group of bushes. Scared, Jubilee had formed one of her plasma pafs and had been ready to fire. All scared about what was going to happen next, the girls didn't move.  
  
After a while, they retrieved their wits and Rogue took a better look at the body. From her place, she could clearly see that he was wet and cold. Finally, she decided that it was best to see if he was okay, and walked to him closely followed by Kitty and Jubilee. Rogue leaned towards the body and turned it over, helped by her friends. This time, it was Rogue's turn to scream as she recognized the unconscious person as Logan. He had come back.  
  
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Please, I would like REVIEWS!!!!!!!! 


	3. acceptance

The girls' screams alerted Scott, Jean and Ororo that were sitting near the basketball court. Many students were already regrouped where the girls where when they arrived. They were immediately let through the circle and were showed Logan's unconscious form. He was quickly brought inside, held by Scott, Bobby, John and two other students. No one could deny, Logan was very heavy.  
  
He was brought to the med lab in the basement where Jean discovered that he was not only unconscious, but also wounded. There were scars on his arms and particularly deep marks in his neck, suggested that he had tried to be strangled. Jean started plugging him to machines and IV tubes, when finally, Kitty told her about the other person they had seen running away.  
  
"Someone is on the grounds?" Scott asked, as he saw the three girls nod. "Okay, we'll do a search."  
  
Before he could precise that only the 'adults' would do the search, all the students were outside, looking for the intruder.  
  
Rogue wanted to know if this person was the one that had harmed 'her' Logan, and so was also looking for the prowler. It was behind the school, near the green house that Bobby saw him first.  
  
"He's over here!" he started shouting to everyone, who ran into his direction. Scott and Ororo arrived, and all looked up the tree in which the person was supposedly hiding.  
  
"Listen, we're not going to hurt you," Scott started, catching sight of a black piece of clothing between branches and big leaves. "Come down."  
  
The person didn't move, but some sort of noise was heard above their heads. They waited minutes, talking to the person and trying to convince him to come down. Nothing worked.  
  
Scott contacted Jean telekinetically, and she told him that she was on her way. A few moments later, she was outside, under the tree. She tried calling the person, but nothing happened. She tried to enter his mind, but she met powerful shields. "Okay, I kneed to be alone with him," she said finally. "Go inside," she commanded to all the students, who reluctantly obeyed. She eyed Scott, seeing that he wasn't moving.  
  
"I'm not sure this is a good idea, Jean," he said slowly, looking up at the tree. "We don't know if this person is dangerous." "Don't worry, Scott," she said with a warm smile. "Go, I'll come after."  
  
Scott walked away very slowly, looking up at the tree, as if he was warning the person up there. Jean sighed and sat down at the base of the trunk. A few moments later, she started talking.  
"Are you sure we shouldn't check if she's alright?" Scott asked to Storm for the tenth time. "You never know, maybe this black fellow's the guy who attacked Wolverine."  
  
Rory looked up at the ceiling and sighed deeply, her hands on her hips.  
  
"Scott!" she said warningly. "Jean knows what she's doing."  
  
Scott snorted.  
  
"I know she knows what she's doing, I just want to make sure what she's doing is safe," he said protectively, walking around the main hall. He eyed the central door a couple of times, and continued walking in circles. Ororo just watched him, visibly amused as she simply leaned on the wall. Suddenly, they heard the professor's wheelchair approaching. They turned towards one of the hallways and saw him coming, pushed by John who was visibly tempted to go faster with the wheelchair.  
  
"Thank you John," the Professor said as the boy stopped him in front of Storm.  
  
John walked back from where he came, dribbling a fireball he had formed in his hands.  
  
"This mutant. outside," the professor said. "He's very scared. Be very calm around him."  
  
Scott was about to ask something when they all heard the door's handle turn. They all looked at it as Jean opened it, not looking at them, but at something behind her. She walked in almost backwards, looking at something that was behind her.  
  
"Come on," she whispered welcomingly.  
  
A shiver ran down Scott and Ororo's back as they saw a black- gloved hand grab the doorframe, and someone peek inside from one of the sides. They couldn't see his face, since it was covered, like all his body, by layers of black tissue. Very slowly, that person came in, watching everyone in the room. Finally, he arrived in the middle of the entrance hall. Since his appearance at the door, he had been half-crouched on the floor, like a scared animal.  
  
"Professor, this is Nightmare," Jean said, showing him the crouched person. "I think he has lost his ability to speak."  
  
"Welcome to my school, Nightmare," the professor said. "Would you like to eat something?"  
  
The creature had a hesitant move, then it tried to hold himself on his legs. He wobbled for a few seconds, but stayed up. It was then they realized that he was very tall for his age, which Jean estimated was seventeen. He was almost as tall as Scott, but seemed much more frail and weak. Jean and Rory started walking towards the kitchen, followed by Nightmare and the Professor and Scott behind him.  
  
In the kitchen, they served Nightmare a plate of food, and they were astonished to see how much he ate. First of all, he didn't use a fork and knife, but ate with his gloved hands that stayed strangely clean. He had made sure that they couldn't see his mouth, as he had barely moved the piece of material covering his face. He sat on the chair in a crouched position, as if ready to jump aside and run away. When he finished eating, he just sat there, watching at the empty plate for some time, then at the people that had fed him. Suddenly, he sort of had a jump, but stayed in place. It was like if he was trying to ask something.  
  
"What is it?" Scott asked, wondering what the boy meant by his jumps and signs.  
  
The boy crawled out of the room, followed by all the others. He got up on his feet and walked around.  
  
"Jean, what is he doing?" Ororo asked, looking at him tap the walls and look around.  
  
"I have absolutely no idea," Jean said, looking at the boy.  
  
Suddenly, Nightmare stopped walking around and started his singular crawling. The professor noticed that he seemed to be more used of walking that way, than on his two legs. He also noticed that he was more agile and alert than all of them. Nightmare crawled up to Scott and got on his two legs, not without wobbling a bit. Scott just watched as the boy searched under his numerous covers, finally pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. He slowly handled it to Scott, who took it, now wondering why was the boy completely covered. Nightmare backed away as soon as the small and ripped sheet was out of his hands, into Scott's. Scott looked at it for a moment than unfolded it. There were two names written on it, along with the school's address. The first thing that was written was Logan's alias, Wolverine. Under it was Professor X's full name. Jean and Ororo read it, not sure of what Nightmare wanted. After they asked him again what he meant, he crawled to Jean, who was holding the paper, and tapped on Wolverine's name.  
  
"Maybe he's looking for Logan," Rory suggested.  
  
They all agreed that it was probably that, and so they showed Nightmare the elevator to go to the lower levels. While going down, they could all see that Nightmare was avoiding being close to them. When the door opened, he almost ran out of the elevator. He started his weird crawling again as he followed Jean to the lab. He immediately saw Logan on the medical table, and jumped to his side. There, he just waited.  
  
Jean looked at the monitor's charts and saw that Logan was just getting better and better.  
  
Fifteen minutes after their entry in the med lab, Logan opened his eyes. He immediately started grumbling. He tried to get to his feet but he fell back on the med table in exhaustion. He recognized the X-Men around him.  
  
"Uh . . . hello," he said, without moving again. "Thought I'd drop by, and see how you weirdoes were doing."  
  
They all looked at him sarcastically, as he coughed lightly.  
  
"Where's the kid?" he asked suddenly, trying to get up again.  
  
"Nightmare's fine," the Professor said.  
  
Logan looked at him incredulously.  
  
"How did you find out his name?" he asked.  
  
"He wrote it on a piece of paper," Jean said. "I arrived to make him come in."  
  
"Well that's a miracle," Logan said derisively, as he passed his legs to the side of the table.  
  
"What is?" the Professor asked, interested in knowing what Logan knew about the boy.  
  
Logan spotted Nightmare squatting in one of the seats, not too far away.  
  
"I'll tell you later," Logan mumbled.  
  
They all looked at him questioningly as he walked to the boy.  
  
"Hey, Dim," he said. "Here's the place I told you about. I want you to think about your opportunities, kid. Tell me what you think of this place after, okay? I'll just go talk to these folks for a while. I want you to go look around."  
  
Nightmare nodded and walked out slowly, walking on his two legs this time. Once he was out, the X-Men all started to ask him questions.  
  
"Hey, would you let me talk?" Logan said after a while, not being able to catch what they were saying.  
  
"Who is Nightmare, Logan?" the Professor asked, as Logan and the others sat in some of the chairs.  
  
"I found the kid up North. Middle of the forest, just freezing," Logan said. "He . . . he has a mutation similar to the one Rogue has."  
  
They all looked at him, telling him to continue.  
  
"It's a bit more complicated than Marie, though," he continued. "He harms people by . . . gee this is a bit hard to explain . . . well, when he touches them, when he sees them, when he thinks of them and all . . ."  
  
"How can it be?" Jean asked. "He's been seeing us all this time, he's visibly made decisions involving us, so he sort of thought of us . . ."  
  
"Jean you got it all wrong," Logan said. "First of all, the kid didn't see you, he felt you. All this time he has his eyes blindfolded. He can't really think of you, because he didn't see you thus can't picture you. Yes, after knowing someone long enough that way, you can picture this person, so that's why he was hiding up north. He can't stay around the same people because after a while, he can picture them. For the skin, he does like Rogue and covers himself up, but it still goes farther than that because he can't speak also."  
  
They all just looked at him.  
  
"I can't explain it, but all his mutation is based on the five senses, or something like that. All but the hearing. To compensate his loss of sight, touch and voice, he has a very exceptional sense of hearing. That way, he can locate you from the noise you do. That's also why he always crawls around. He needs to feel everything, to know where you or other objects are."  
  
"This is a complicated mutation," Scott exclaimed.  
  
"I . . . I would need to make him pass a medical exam to establish a diagnosis," Jean said slowly. "But . . . helping him would be a little harder than all the others. And first of all, how will I be able to give him his medical exam?"  
  
"He's able to control most of his power under a short period of time," Logan said. "But just for about ten minutes."  
  
"That'll be fine, then," Jean said.  
  
"Oh, and I forgot to tell you," Logan continued. "He is extremely scared of hurting people so he probably wont . . . euh . . . socialize with the students very quickly. And plus, how do you want the poor kid to do to become their friend?"  
  
"That is going to be one problem," the Professor said. "I bet Jean will have found some sort of way to make him control his power a bit more. After all, we don't want him to loose his mind because of this mutation of his. I've never seen anything like this before."  
  
"And how come you were hurt?" Ororo asked.  
  
"Ah . . . well, you know, I've known the kid for something like three weeks and we talked. Well, I talked and he wrote back. After a while, even without him really noticing its like if a picture appeared in his mind. It happens with everyone he knows for too long. After that, its just a matter of time before a question passes in his head, like maybe he's wondering where I am in the room, and so he relates to that mental picture and so I get this huge blow coming out of nowhere."  
  
"Strange," Jan said, taking a notebook from the counter, and started noting things in it.  
  
"Well, then you should go find your friend," the Professor said, directing his wheelchair to the door as the others followed him. "We could try to give him his medical exam now."  
  
"Okay, I'll go get him and explain everything," Logan said, passing him.  
  
They took the elevator, and reached the first floor. There, Logan left the professor and went looking for his little friend. **********  
  
REVIEW! IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT!!!!! 


	4. Talk

Okay, I really am getting bored of always asking you people to review. Can't you just do it? Just to let me know what you think, or what you would like to happen? And suggestions are accepted. You can even critic if you want to. Just review.  
  
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Logan found his little protégé in the school library, passing his fingers on the side of bookshelves. Logan knew he would have never entered that room if other students had been in it. He was too scared of hurting them by accident. He entered the room, and the boy stopped walking through his aisle, his fingers still on the books. After a few seconds, he knew it was just Logan and he continued walking.  
  
Logan reached him and looked at the boy go, his face directed forward, one of his gloved hands behind his back and the other passing on the books.  
  
"I like it here," Logan heard a faint voice whisper.  
  
The Wolverine smiled.  
  
"You're learning to control it," he said, his hands in his pockets as he walked beside the covered boy.  
  
The lower part of the tissue covering his face was down, and Logan could see a smile forming on his lips.  
  
"Not much," Logan heard again, in the same low tone.  
  
"Do you want to stay?"  
  
Logan heard no immediate reply as the boy stopped, passing his hand on the side of one of the books. Logan looked at it, and read the title, which was 'Plato's works'.  
  
"Did you know . . ." the frail voice started. "Plato was Socrates' disciple. You know what that man said?"  
  
Logan waited for him to answer his own question.  
  
"He said 'Know yourself'."  
  
Nightmare continued down the aisle.  
  
"I don't," he said finally. "I don't know myself, I can't know anyone else."  
  
"Well then you have to start knowing yourself, kid," Logan said nicely. "You can start here. These are nice people. They'll help you."  
  
Nightmare didn't respond, and Logan knew that he wasn't planning on answering. He had talked enough.  
  
"The lady you heard at the tree outside," Logan continued. "She's waiting for you in the med lab. She'll give you a medical exam to try and help you."  
  
The boy stopped again, and faced Logan, even though he couldn't see him.  
  
"H. help me?" he whispered uncertainly, as if it was the last thing he expected.  
  
"Yes. Now go down there and do what she tells you to do," Logan said, smiling interiorly at the fact that he had finally put a little hope in his clouded mind.  
  
"And be careful when you talk to her!" he shouted to nightmare, who was now walking back to the door. "She's not used to your power like I am!"  
  
The boy turned to him, smiled, and replaced the cover in front of his face as he walked out of the room, towards the elevator.  
  
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Nightmare can talk to Logan because he's used to his power . . . and he has a healing ability. That's why they can talk. 


	5. A strange mutation

This is a small chapter, but the next one is coming pretty soon (I say small as in nothing really important happens). It's because I'm a little crazy. I have something like five fics I'm working on at the same time. You can help me if you want. To do this, just review.  
  
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Chapter 5:  
  
Walking down the hallway, Nightmare made sure that he was going the right way by keeping his hand on the wall. That way, he could feel his way to the elevator. Before getting in it, he made sure the hall was completely empty, by listening for sounds.  
  
After a few seconds of hearing, he quickly entered the elevator and pressed on the first button, to go to the first lower level. He could feel that there were a few other buttons under it, but had no idea where they could bring him.  
  
The door opened and he sensed that no one was near. He jumped to the floor, and, this way, felt everything, and knew where everything was. There was nothing in the hallway, but he crawled to one end, and met a door. No one was behind it, and so he decided to open it.  
  
After only a few seconds in this room, he knew it was the one he liked the most. There was no sound to be heard. Not one. He smiled to himself, enjoying this moment of peace. He got on his two legs and made a few steps forward. He sensed there was something big in the middle of the room. After a dozen other steps, he nearly hit a hard surface. His hands passed on its side, and he deducted it was an aircraft.  
  
He waited in the room in silence, and finally, seeing that absolutely no one was coming in, he decided to open his eyes.  
  
Uncertainly, he took off his gloves and lowered the hood covering his face. He took off the black material covering his eyes and mouth, and after a few seconds of reflection, he opened his eyes.  
  
There was a big flash of blue light, then nothing. Nightmare kept his eyes open and his vision adapted itself to the light in the room. No living thing was in the room, so it was totally safe for him to open his eyes. He couldn't harm anyone.  
  
Nightmare walked around the jet, admiring its beautiful shape. He stopped on one of the sides, seeing his reflection in it. His eyes looked normal, except for their extraordinary blueness. Quickly, he passed his hand in his jet black hair, trying to smooth it down, even if he knew it was an impossible task.  
  
He sighed deeply, smiled weakly to his reflection and closed his eyes as he passed the black band of material in front of them. He raised his hood and walked to the door. He opened it, walked out, ready to go see this doctor Logan had told him about.  
  
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Jean stretched, and leaned on the med lab's counter. She turned a couple of note-filled papers and arrived in front of a blank sheet of paper. It was an identification paper. Quickly, she passed in front of the birth date and real name, and wrote in the 'alias' square, Nightmare. She heard the door opened and she turned around. She smiled seeing the boy entering. "Nice to see you, Nightmare," she said in a friendly tone. "Sit on the med table . . . to your left." Nightmare walked in the designated direction, found the table and sat on its ledge. "Can you try and talk to me?" Jean asked, walking to him. "It's painful for you," Nightmare whispered as Jean grimaced and felt a white hot pain in her head, mostly in her ears. She rubbed her temples, and sighed. "Talk to me about your mutation, in your words," Jean asked, trying to ignore the pain in her head.  
  
Nightmare seemed lightly surprised, but obeyed, talking slowly and lowly.  
  
"It started about a year ago," he whispered. "I got very nervous while doing a school presentation in front of a big part of my village, and I sort of spoke, and people started screaming and yelling in pain. After that, it was the touch that started hurting people, then my eyes. Later on, I realized that I could hurt people by thinking of them too."  
  
Jean brought her hands to her forehead, and made a step back.  
  
"You definitely have to get to know how to control your mutation," she said, rubbing her head. "Approximately how much people did you get to talk to, after discovering your mutation?"  
  
"Two," Nightmare said without hesitating. "Logan, you."  
  
Jean's eyes widened, visible stupefied.  
  
"Has there ever been an accident of some sort, concerning you're mutation?"  
  
"Yes, but I'd rather not talk about that," the boy whispered.  
  
Jean understood.  
  
"Okay, now, let me see you're face," she said, making Nightmare make a movement backwards.  
  
"No," he said, a bit louder than a whisper, aware that he was going to give Jean another mind ache.  
  
Jean walked to the counter opened a little drawer and pulled out a small bottle of aspirins. She opened it, took two out and swallowed them without the help of water.  
  
"Yes you are, young man," she said, walking back to him. "I need to give you a medical exam, not an oral exam."  
  
Nightmare sighed deeply, reluctantly taking off his hood and taking off the piece of material covering his face, closing his eyes tightly. Jean's face was filled with pity at the sight of that, his tightly closed eyes making her think of Scott when he had first arrived to see the professor.  
  
She used her power to bring gloves to her, and slid them on. She was surprised by the high jump he made when her gloved hands touched the side of his face.  
  
"Relax," she whispered, sensing him so tense.  
  
Slowly, she felt him do so, and she was able to touch his face again.  
  
"Funny," she said to herself.  
  
"What is?" the boy asked, sensing her passing her gloved hands on his cheek.  
  
"Well, you're skin is not like Rogue's," she said. "She's one of our students who absorb's people's abilities and memories through skin to skin contact. You don't absorb their abilities, I think you steal their energy."  
  
The boy grunted. He felt her pass her hands on his eyes.  
  
"You're eyes kill?" she asked.  
  
She received an aprobative grunt for an answer.  
  
"What have you killed to date?" she asked, unsure of she really wanted to know.  
  
"Many people, animals and even plants," he whispered sadly.  
  
Jean didn't react.  
  
"I should stop talking now," the boy whispered.  
  
"Okay," she said. "Now, tomorrow, we'll do these exercises with your mutation."  
  
Nightmare jumped five feet away.  
  
"Relax!" Jean whispered. "They're exercises for you to control your mutation. We won't make you kill anything."  
  
Nightmare sighed.  
  
"Now, go see the professor," Jean said. "He'll tell you everything you need to know about your stay here."  
  
"Where?" Nightmare simply asked, sensing that he wasn't controlling his voice very well anymore.  
  
"Second floor, first door you meet to your left," Jean said. "He'll help you find it with his power. It's mind reading, so he can talk to you."  
  
Nightmare left the room, crawling on the floor again. The second he was out, Jean walked to the counter again, took out the bottle of aspirins and took five in a row.  
  
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Guess what, I'll make you a deal: you review, I send in the next chapter . . . HA!  
  
(  
  
Never mind . . . 


	6. the professor's office

Well, now that I have a week off, I'm going to be able to write a bit more. I've been pretty busy with school and all, but I always find time to write! ;o)  
  
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Walking down one of the halls, trying to ignore the looks Nightmare knew the students passing by were giving him, he was trying to find the professor's office by memory. First of all, opening his eyes to see where he was going was not an option, and second of all, he couldn't ask for directions without sending someone down to Jean's office in a state of deep crisis. Plus, he was lost and had absolutely no idea where he was going. Great.  
  
Finally, Nightmare stopped, knowing that it was no use and that there was no point of continuing walking. Sighing deeply, Nightmare massed his hand on the wall and felt that there was a table right next to him. If someone could have seen his face, they would have seen Nightmare's eyebrows raise and a small smile illuminate his features. He quickly opened one of his pockets and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil from it. He swiftly scribbled something on it, and then waited, leaning on the wall patiently.  
  
After some time, Nightmare heard the familiar sound of footsteps in the hall. Moving closer to the middle to be sure not to miss the person who was passing, Nightmare waited expectantly. He heard the person stop not too far away from him, and that is when he decided to hand out the paper. He waited a few moments, and felt the person take the paper.  
  
"You're the one that came with Logan aren't you?" a feminine voice asked after a few moments.  
  
Nightmare could only shake his head positively.  
  
"I . . . I'm Rogue," he heard the voice continue.  
  
Nightmare somehow knew that she was handing out her hand, expecting him to shake it. Slightly uncomfortable, he extended his own and moved it around for a second, searching for hers. She took his hand finally.  
  
"I'll bring you too the professor," she said as she started walking, probably talking for him to know where she was heading. Nightmare smiled at that noticing that she was clever.  
  
"You wrote that you needed directions on the paper," she continued. "That mean's you're probably not able to, euh . . . well, talk."  
  
Nightmare shook his head positively again.  
  
"I just saw Logan a few minutes ago, and he told me about your mutation," she said, a pinch of uneasiness in her voice. "It . . . it's like mine, hun?"  
  
Now Nightmare just wanted to literally scream that it wasn't. SHE could see people without hurting them, SHE could talk to them and SHE could think of them all she want. Her only problem was the touch, and even if it was a very terrible mutation, it would never be as horrifying as his. He, for god's sake, couldn't even stay close to people more than a week or so before he started picturing them, and thus, thinking of them, therefore, sending them at the hospital for a month or so.  
  
He felt the urge to talk, to object and express himself, but all he could do was swallow the misery and nod his head negatively.  
  
He followed Rogue, guided by her voice, and finally, he ended up in the professor's office. It was to say, Nightmare was glad to be with him. There was something about this man that made Nightmare feel the closest thing to normal. Normal, as in mutant normal, of course.  
  
"So, Nightmare," he started. "Would you like to stay here as a student?"  
  
He shook his head, sitting down in an armchair in front of the professor's desk.  
  
"I know there is no point of giving you the school papers, but I still will," the professor continued. "You never know. Now, you will be rooming with two other boys your age. Bobby and John. I'm sure you'll get along with them fairly well."  
  
Nightmare sighed.  
  
"You're asking yourself how you will be able to get along with them, aren't you?" the professor asked, making Nightmare raise his head in shock. "I am psychic, you know."  
  
Nightmare smiled under his covers.  
  
"Well, to answer you, I am sure you will be able to learn to control your mutation after some time of practice in the danger room," he said. "The danger room is some sort of virtual training program that we use to help our students gain control over their powers. Yours will probably take some time, but I think we'll be able to help you."  
  
Nightmare grunted, trying to express himself without hurting the professor.  
  
"Now, you will attend class tomorrow," the professor continued, making Nightmare 'look' at him in surprise. "I'm sure we have better clothes for you somewhere, and I'll see if your mutation with your eyes could be controlled with a ruby quartz visor. I don't think it is going to work, but we never know."  
  
Nightmare just listened to hear more.  
  
"I will inform your teachers about your mutation, but I still want you to attend classes. From what I see in your mind, you were a great student at school," he continued. "We will try to make your stay here as pleasant as possible."  
  
Nightmare shook his head.  
  
"But there are still a few things I would like to know," the professor said. "First of all, would you consider giving up your real name?"  
  
Nightmare hesitated a long time before reaching into his pocket again, and scribbling something on the paper. He handed it to the professor, who read it.  
  
"Well, Shawn, welcome to my school," the professor said.  
  
Nightmare smiled as he rose from his seat to walk out.  
  
"Ah, and don't forget, I want you to wear other clothes," Charles said. "I'm sure our students will help you shop around this week end."  
  
Shawn walked to the door, opened it, but turned to the professor.  
  
"Thank you," he whispered before closing the door behind him.  
  
**********  
  
That was a bit short. Again.  
  
Oh well. 


	7. Painful sight

I am soooo sorry for having taken this much time to update! I was kinda busy with other fics, and I still thought this wasn't going to go anywhere . . . so if you want this to go on, give me ideas!!  
  
So here are my thank yous for my reviewers who were waiting for this chapter!  
  
JustandalwaysMo: I know, this story has no point . . . I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I continue it, just to pass time.  
  
Victoria Wolf: I don't know why but I don't think I'm going to make *long* chapters to this story (but I am going to continue it . . .)  
  
Bob: Thank you!! I love it when people show me mistakes like THAT.  
  
Agentpippin: thanx!  
  
Webster: well . . . here it is!  
  
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Nightmare had a wide smile plastered to his face as he marched down the hall, searching for Logan. After about ten minutes of searching, he caught a familiar sent, and started to follow it. He arrived in the kitchen, not to his surprise and heard his friend welcome him.  
  
"Hey, Dim," Logan exclaimed, taking a sip of his beer. Dim was his pet name for Nightmare, since he was uncomfortable with the name Nightmare. He had chosen Dim, because he didn't just want to call him 'kid' like he did to the other youngsters. It was the same for Rogue, since he rarely called her that, preferring Marie, mainly because he was the only one 'allowed' calling her by her real name.  
  
"I need to talk to you," Nightmare said, rather too loud since he heard Logan drop his beer bottle, probably covering his ears. He cursed, unwillingly making Nightmare's smile disappear.  
  
"Yeah, just one second," Logan said. "I need something strong."  
  
Nightmare heard him walk out of the room, and he followed. He now thought that he was in a private common room or something. The floor was covered by a thick carpet and the ceiling seemed to be pretty high too. Shawn could feel sunshine on his face, and so imagined seeing very high and thin windows on the side of the wall. They probably covered the wall's whole length. There were probably curtains, Shawn imagined. And they maybe matched the carpet. Walking around a little, he felt armchairs and sofas, and sometimes tables, everywhere in the room. It was definitely a common room.  
  
He followed Logan's footsteps and felt him stop in front of a rather large- seeming piece of furniture. Shawn heard the sound of a lock, and the sound of glasses touching together. Now he understood. He wanted something to drink.  
  
There was a moment of silence as he gulped down the liquid. He sighed after putting down his glass.  
  
"So, what do you want to tell me?" Logan said, visibly smiling a little.  
  
"I'm a student," Shawn whispered, Logan barely catching his words.  
  
"Good!" Logan said somewhat enthusiastically.  
  
"I want to control my power," he whispered again, and to this, Logan frowned, glad the boy couldn't see. He doubted the boy would control his power one day. It was too strong.  
  
"Can you show me the dorms?" the boy continued.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Logan answered quickly. "This way."  
  
Logan brought Nightmare up to the dorm in which he was supposed to stay, also where Bobby and John were staying. They looked at Nightmare oddly as he and Logan entered.  
  
"Hey'a kids," Logan said, something menacing in his voice. "This is your new roommate. His name's Nightmare. I don't advise you to touch him or try to make him talk, or see you. We don't want stupid kids going down to the mad lab every few hours or so."  
  
With that, he was walking out the room, closing the door behind him. There was a long moment of awkward silence.  
  
"So, ya can't talk, see, touch or think," John said finally.  
  
Nightmare shook his head, bringing down his hood. He heard the second boy grunt.  
  
"First, you need to get rid of those rags," he heard him say. "Tell us what you want to wear. You can't go to class like that."  
  
"Tell?" John whispered to his friend reminded.  
  
"Oh, I mean, write it down or something," Bobby said.  
  
Shawn smiled and took out a piece of paper from one of his pockets, writing down that he liked more gothic type of clothes. He held it in front of him, and felt one of the boys take it. He guessed Pyro.  
  
"Gothic, hun?" Bobby said, walking to one of the cupboards.  
  
Nightmare shook his hand, indicating 'so-so'. He waited a few moments and felt something strange get into the room, but it wasn't a person. It was more . . . like something in the air. He leaned down, as if he was being tracked.  
  
"That's just the professor," Pyro said, seeing Nightmare act the way he did. "He just explained me your mutation."  
  
Shawn relaxed and sat on the bed in front of him.  
  
"Well you can go into the bathroom," Bobby said, coming back. "Nothing alive is in there, so you could open your eyes, clean up and get dressed with this."  
  
Nightmare took the pile of clothes he was being handed and was directed to the toilet door. He was about to mutter thanks, but knew better. He simply smiled, and John and Bobby understood. He shut the door and only then he dared to open his eyes. There was a flash of bluish light, then nothing. Passing his hand on the side of the wall, he found the light switched and flicked it up.  
  
Looking down at the clothes Bobby had given him, he found black jean pants, a belt with a funky silver symbol for attach, a black shirt to which the sleeves had been cut off and a leather jacket that had probably belonged to someone before, even if it was in a very good state.  
  
He then walked to the glass and it was then he understood what Bobby meant by he was wearing 'rags', because they truly were drapes, dirty, holed, stretched . . . and just plain bad looking. He gladly took them off and immediately slipped into the shower. He turned on the taps and as delighted to be able to feel the freezing cold water contact his skin. He turned on the hot tap, found some shampoo and soap that he gladly used.  
  
After a good twenty minutes, he had forced to get out of the shower because there was no more hot water. At least he was clean.  
  
After having dried up, he took a pair of scissors and walked to the glass. His hair was a bit long, and weren't in a healthy shape, and so he started to cut off the tips. He was actually very good in manipulating scissors, and at the end, it didn't look like a hacked up job at all.  
  
He got dressed with the clothes that he had been given, and put his 'rags' directly into the garbage. He had made sure he had taken out everything from the pockets before doing so, and placed his few papers, pencil and other items in his new jacket's pockets. He also tied a red band around his eyes, and slipped on his leather gloves.  
  
Before exiting, he placed a couple of bracelets around his arms and a chain around his neck. At the end of it could be seen dangling the miniature of a moon, in which the face of a wolf was reflected in, howling to the moon.  
  
Well, he was much less repulsive like that now.  
  
Opening the door, he felt John and Bobby watching him for a couple of seconds, before one of them spoke.  
  
"Well, that's much better," John said.  
  
"Now we'll go to the Danger Room," Bobby said, getting up from wherever he was sitting. "The professor wanted you to try a visor or something."  
  
Nightmare smiled widely, following the two boys out. Walking down the hall, he tried to stop himself from crawling on the floor, even though he felt much more comfortable that way. He kept one of his hands on the wall, guided by John's voice who was talking about a new program in history they were all going to receive.  
  
Not too long after, they arrived in front of a large metal door that they all passed. Shawn sensed the professor and another person, not too far away.  
  
"Ah, hello boys," he said, in his normal friendly tone. "Now, Shawn, would you please walk up to me."  
  
Nightmare obeyed, hearing the door open behind him. He immediately sensed it was the three people he had sensed when he had first arrived. The first one was miss Grey, the second was the man and the last one was the other woman.  
  
"Ah, here are Jean Grey, Scott Summers and Ororo Munroe," the professor said, seeing Shawn turn around in their direction. "Now I'd like you to meet Fey, one of my students. She can control vegetation."  
  
"Hey," he heard the girl say, and he nodded in response.  
  
"I'd like to see how far your mutation works," the professor said. "For that, I asked Fey to fill the room with vegetation. We are going to step back, and I'd like you to open your eyes in the other direction."  
  
Shawn shrugged in displeasure, but couldn't argue: it would kill the professor and the others.  
  
"Now, hear my voice, and see where we all are," the professor continued, moving towards the wall and the others. "Turn to the other direction, and open your eyes."  
  
Xavier knew Shawn wasn't enjoying this at all, but there was no other way of seeing how his mutation was.  
  
Shawn made a few steps forward and brought his hands to the back of his neck, untying the knot keeping the ribbon on his eyes. It fell in his hands, but he kept hie eyes shut for another few seconds before opening his eyes.  
  
There was a flash of intense blue light, and soon, he saw the plants in front of him. They were so beautiful, vines climbing on the walls, exotic flowers everywhere, and greenery he had never seen before. He only had half a second to admire all that beautiful vegetation, before the plants in front of him started to die. The leaves shrivelled up and were almost turned to dust, the flower petals fell to the floor and soon disappeared, and all that green turned into a mushy brown, as everything died. Absolutely everything. Hundreds, maybe even a few thousands of plants just died on the spot, without a word said; only a bright blue light.  
  
Shawn shut his eyes painfully. It was all gone. It was all black. He was back to his darkness. To his eternal obscurity.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I'm working on chapter 8, I'm working on it . . . 


	8. too dangerous

Hey! I didn't know there were that much of you liking my story! Wohawwww!!! I am very surprised!  
  
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"Dim, open the door!" Logan yelled for the tenth time, slamming his fist on the dorm room door, once again.  
  
"I assure you Shawn, our intentions weren't to hurt you," the professor said, unable to enter the boy's mind.  
  
Behind him were the other people that had witnessed Nightmare's power, including Bobby, Pyro, Rogue and the rest of the X-Men.  
  
After the 'incident', Nightmare had ran out of the Danger Room, working his way up to the dorm by using his hearing and touch. He had locked himself in, raising his mind shields and blocking his ears, just trying to stay calm. He had known it had been a bad idea to decide to stay. This place was full of people. It was much too dangerous. His power was too developed for him to stay.  
  
Sitting in a corner, leaning on the wall, his knees to his chin, he heard again Logan's racket outside the door, where all the others where.  
  
He heard their voices, calling him, telling him it was all right, that it was okay, but he knew the truth. He had *seen* it. It was the only thing he would ever see: Destruction death, and that blue flash before everything disappeared again. Their voices went on the other side of the door, trying to persuade him to open it. After fifteen minutes of listening to Logan's fist repeatedly hitting the door, the professor continuingly trying to enter his mind, the others speaking to him and telling him everything would be fine, he started to loose control. His mind shield was failing him, and the professor would soon break through. Logan kept slamming his fist on the door.  
  
"Open the door, Shawn!" he yelled, loosing his temper.  
  
But then it took Nightmare, he totally lost he control, he forgot, he was sick of everything, he just wanted to be normal, to be able to see, to touch, to think properly and talk, but he forgot, he wasn't his fault, and so he shut his eyes tightly, covering his ears and trying to block out everything, but he just lost it.  
  
"NO!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Leave me alone!"  
  
The words flowed out of his mouth, and it was just when the damage was done, that he was able to stop. An incomprehensible fright took over him as he grabbed the sides of his head tighter. There were a few moments of silence. Nothing came.  
  
Were they gone? Had he killed them? It couldn't be. It just simply couldn't.  
  
He crawled on his knees to the door. No frightened and nervous but whole body was shaking uncontrollably. He turned the handle, and at that precise moment, he just would have sold his soul to the devil to see. Instead, his shaky hands made way across the carpeted floor, until his gloved hands faintly felt someone's body, laying there, in front of his door. This one was Logan. He was practically sure of it. To his right, he felt the professor's wheelchair, in which Charles was sitting. Behind them were about six other bodies.  
  
Shawn was still in shock, and hadn't dared to check if they were truly dead. He was too scared of the answer.  
  
He sat down, leaning against the wall, shaking like a leaf. After minutes of long and agonizing silence, he moved his hand forward, to what he knew was Storm's neck. He pressed his flooded fingers, and was merrily astonished to feel her heart beating normally in her chest, her blood pressure being absolutely normal. She was alive. They were all alive.  
  
He stayed in his corner, somewhat happy, nut extremely remorseful. He hadn't meant to hurt them. He hadn't wanted to. It had just happened. He didn't want it to happen again.  
  
He needed to leave. To leave them alone. He was only trouble. How could he have possibly caressed the thought of being a student here? Of being 'normal', even on mutant standards? No. It couldn't happen.  
  
Shawn ran back inside the dorm, and just checked that there was nothing he had left behind. There was nothing. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and scribbled a note of excuse he left on the bed.  
  
He ran back out, contouring the bodies of his unconscious friends, as he crawled down the hall. Near the stairs, he fell across another body, a student that had also heard his voice. He shrugged, but was relieved to see that this one was still alive too.  
  
All the other students were outside, so there was no chance for them to have heard his voice. They wouldn't notice his departure, and that was good.  
  
Luckily, he remembered perfectly where the door was, and so headed in that direction. Near the exit, he felt the coat hanger where he found a couple of vests. After a while of searching, he found a long trench coat with hood that could reach his ankles and was a size two big, so the sleeves would cover half of his hands too. It was perfect. He slipped it on, pulling up the hood, and walked out.  
  
He didn't make any noise on the pavement, even if he was wearing army boots. He crouched back to the ground, just like before. This way, he could feel the dribbling of a basketball on the other side of the building, and could feel if anyone was approaching. None of the students were near, and so he was fee to walk through the grounds, into he reached the black metal gates separating the school from the rest of the world. With two swift movements, he had jumped and grabbed the highest band of metal and had swung himself sideways, this way arriving on the other side of the gate without any trouble. He landed on the sandy cemented ground, and got up, sniffing the air. He was in the middle of Westchester, and so in the middle of a forest. The nearest city was far away, and he wasn't intending to go to it, anyways. He jumped across the road, hearing no car coming or going, and just one parked on the side near the gates, and it probably belonged to Scott or someone in the school. No other cars on the road. It was normal. The school was meant to be in an unreachable place in the middle of nowhere. Across the road, Shawn waited a moment, just trying to concentrate in mental viewing his surroundings. He was, after all, blind.  
  
There were trees. Lots of trees. Not too many animals, but a very thick vegetation. This was good to hide from civilization as he intended to do.  
  
Jumping over a couple of bushes and swinging above a tree branch, be disappeared into the wilderness, leaving his hope and wishes of a better future behind him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Scott felt as if someone had taken a hammer, hit him on the side of the head with it and so sending him flying across the room, so the wall could give him another blow. This hadn't actually happened, but it was how he felt. Like shit.  
  
He tried to open his eyes, but they just didn't respond. His ears were buzzing, his mouth was dry and he thought his skin was on fire. What had happened? He couldn't remember anything very precise.  
  
He had been leaning on the wall, just looking at Logan who was calling out the new boy's name . . . Nightmare or Shawn. Everybody who had seen what had happened to the plants in the Danger Room were there. The professor was trying to enter his mind to calm him down, but nothing was working. That's when some sort of imposed silence fell, as if someone had turned the volume off in the whole hallway. Then, there had only been pain. It came like a wave, pushing your mind forward, but not your body. It was weird and somewhat painful. It was after, when the wave had reached it extent, it went back from wherever it came, pulling our 'minds' with it, but not our bodies or anything. That was when it was painful. So painful they all fell unconscious, not even being able to hear the voice talking on the other side of the door.  
  
Minutes passed, and finally, he felt hands grab his shoulders, shaking him.  
  
"Get up, retard!" it said, half growling half shouting.  
  
Ah. Logan was up.  
  
"We need to go get him!" Logan continued.  
  
Scott opened his eyes, pulling himself in an upward position. Jean and Ororo were trying to get up, but Rogue, Bobby and John were still knocked out.  
  
"Logan, maybe he shouldn't stay at the school," Scott said. "His power is too dangerous."  
  
"No, he needs our help," Logan growled. "The poor kid needs a family. Here is the only place he could consider a home. You really don't understand, scooter. He can't open his eyes, so he can't see, he can't touch, it's too dangerous, he can't talk or think of people. He doesn't have a chance out there. Here is the only place he should be."  
  
After reflection, Scott nodded in approval.  
  
"Quick, he's already far," the professor whispered. "In front of the grounds. Go get him. All of you."  
  
~~~~~  
  
"Mystique, is that him?" Toad asked, looking at the boy jump into the forest.  
  
Mystique, sitting in the driver's seat of a BMW parked near the gates of the school, just stared at the bushes behind which the boy had disappeared.  
  
"Yes," she whispered. "Magneto told me it was him. We need to put him on our side, so we can't take him by force. We would die, anyways. We need a calm approach."  
  
"Sure," Toad said, rubbing his hands together.  
  
He opened his door and jumped out, as Mystique drove off to park further away, barely giving him time to shut his door.  
  
They entered the forest, following Shawn's faint tracks as they heard the X- Men arriving in their direction. They started walking faster, but were soon lost in the middle of nowhere. It was to say, Nightmare knew exactly how to move around without letting any tracks behind him.  
  
After an hour and a half of searching, Mystique and Toad finally found him, sitting in a tree, very high above the ground. They were about fifteen kilometers from the school, and by the looks of it, Nightmare had been up that tree for quite a while.  
  
"Hello, Nightmare," Mystique said. "We're friends. I'm Mystique and the toad with me is . . . Toad."  
  
Nightmare looked down in their direction, even if his eyes were covered by a piece of black tissue. Both Mystique and Toad had a light hesitation before continuing. They knew that the boy only needed to say a word for them to be on the ground begging for mercy.  
  
"Well . . . I've got a proposition for you," Mystique continued. "We know you're trying to hide from those people at the school, and we know that you're right. They're looking for you right now and they'll find you, believe me. But you don't want to hurt them, do you?"  
  
Mystique paused, looking to see if Nightmare looked interested.  
  
"Come with us and we'll hide you from them so they won't be able to find you," she said. "And you'll be with people who understand what you're going through."  
  
Now Shawn looked confused. Should he trust these two mutants that he didn't even know? Yes, he did want to stay away from his friends, but was going with those two a good idea? No. Not for the moment.  
  
"I want to stay alone," Sawn whispered, making them cover their ears.  
  
And with that, he jumped down the tree, and ran off again.  
  
Mystique looked back at Toad, smiling a little bit.  
  
"We'll get him another time," she said. "Let's just give him some time to think about our proposition."  
  
Toad nodded and they started their walk back to their car, making sure they weren't leaving any traces for the X-Men to follow.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Shawn continued running through the forest, sensing everything that was going on. Logan and the others were about two miles west from where he was, and he was heading northeast, continuing his way through the forest. No one was near . . . Or at least that's what he thought.  
  
He kept running through the forest, until he reached some sort of a field. Some cows were walking around here and there, but besides that, there were only four or five cars parked not too far away, but no people.  
  
Shawn made a step forward, but he knew something was wrong. How could five cars be parked in the middle of no where, and no one was there? He was about to run back and hide in the forest, but it was too late.  
  
Two strong hands grabbed his arms by behind, while another one was holding his mouth shut. He had been so naïve. He could only feel what was on the ground, and these people had been up in the trees or something. Now that they were coming down from their hiding place, he could feel about twenty people walking around, circling him from everywhere. He couldn't escape, he couldn't use his mutation, because all of these people seemed to know exactly what he could do. While one was holding him down, another one was putting something in his mouth to stop him from speaking, and another one was putting something else on his eyes.  
  
He couldn't do anything except one thing: think.  
  
And so that is what he did. He couldn't think of these people, because he couldn't see them, but he could think of Logan, because he had 'seen' him before. He thought of Logan, trying to send him a message. He thought of him for a second, knowing that by now he would be on the ground, holding his head in pain. He didn't think of anything for five other seconds, before starting again. Logan would get the message. He wasn't dumb.  
  
"Oh no boy," one of the men holding him said. "We'll make sure you don't hurt anyone. The general wants you in one piece."  
  
And with that, everything went black.  
  
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Review! 


	9. Back to the past

Sorry for the time I took to update, I will make sure I update much sooner next time. It's summer, so I might even have the time to do longer chapters  
  
Thank you for my *(im)patient* reviewers: BerserkerRageX-Girl, Guin, webster, Catz, Alison, LYKAchan, Aofyn, JB  
  
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Chapter 9:  
  
All was silence. Slowly waking from his compulsory sleep, Shawn immediately felt that he couldn't move. Wondering what was happening, he tried to get up, but found himself being attached to something, that he knew wasn't on the ground. If it was, he would have felt what was around him, but now, he just felt like a normal blind human, unable to fell what was there without a cane. He didn't even know if he was alone . . . wherever he was.  
  
Slowly, he remembered everything that had happened. The school, his mistake, his getaway, those two strange mutants and his capture. He panicked. Where was he?  
  
He wiggled, but felt that ropes or rather leather straps, were restraining him to what seemed to be a chair. Using all his strength, he jumped, in order to see if the chair he as attached to wasn't itself fixed to something else. It wasn't, and the chair jumped about an inch above the strange platform he was on.  
  
Regaining his senses, he felt that something like a cloth was in his mouth, and that he was tightly gagged. His eyes were too well covered for him to open them. All he could do was hear, but all there was to listen to was deep and boring silence. He tried to make a sound, but it was muffed by what was in his mouth. It was then he heard someone open a door, walking into the room. He couldn't feel the steps on the ground, but could hear them clearly.  
  
"Did anyone give him the serum yet?" a hard, manly voice asked.  
  
"No, sir," another said, this one seeming to obey to the first man. "We were awaiting your orders."  
  
"Fine, leave me with him," the first man said, his footsteps being heard on the floor, getting closer to where Shawn was.  
  
Nightmare heard the door slide shut as he was left alone with this man he knew was an enemy.  
  
"Hello, Dusk," the man said, sending a shiver down the boy's spine. "Long time no see, hun?"  
  
Shawn made a move backwards, trying desperately to untie himself.  
  
"Wait a minute," the man said, approaching.  
  
Nightmare tossed and turned, trying to get free, to get away from that man he was too well acquainted with already. He didn't want to go back to the past . . . he didn't want that, but it was already to late. He felt the needle enter his skin in the middle of his neck, and that cold and painful fluid flow through his body again.  
  
He lost consciousness, hearing the man whisper that he was going to wait until he would wake up again.  
  
~~~~~  
  
"Where is he, professor?" Logan asked, walking down the hallway with the others towards Cerebro, following the professor.  
  
"I have no idea," the old man answered. "He was in the woods and than he just disappeared and I couldn't sense him anywhere. I'll check Cerebro. Something isn't right."  
  
~~~~~  
  
Shawn woke up to the contact of a fist to his face, hitting him so hard he thought he had a dislocated jaw. His hand reached his face and he rubbed the side of his face, opening his eyes ever so slowly to see who had hit him.  
  
A tall and very strong-looking man was in front of him, but he could only see his outline because of the blinding light in the room. Another man in uniform was behind that one, leaning on the wall.  
  
"Wake up call," he said sardonically as the stronger man walked back to let them talk together. He seemed to just be there to do the dirty work, and for now, he wasn't requested for his services.  
  
Shawn frowned and rubbed his head, yawning. It was only then he realized that he had been untied and that he was free to speak. But an inner doubt made him stop himself before screaming that he wanted to get out from this place.  
  
"Afraid to talk?" the man in uniform asked, walking forward.  
  
But Shawn couldn't help yelling when he finally noticed that he was looking at them and that they weren't dieing or agonizing on the floor.  
  
The man chucked in front of his utter state of awe.  
  
"Come on, Shawn," he said. "I want you to speak. Tell me why you ran away. You *wanted* to keep that curse on you? Not to be able to live normally?"  
  
"Let me go," Shawn pleaded. "Please, just let me go." "Oh no, my boy," the man growled. "We need you, just as you need us."  
  
"No I don't! Let me go! Don't do this to me again!" Nightmare yelled, seeing the man approach, a needle in hand.  
  
A few seconds later, everything went black again.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I can't find him anywhere," the professor said, wheeling out of Cerebro. "He just disappeared."  
  
"But how come?" Jean asked. "It's impossible for him to have simply disappeared like that!"  
  
"It was already extremely difficult to pass his mental shields when he arrived here, and I'm guessing that he built them himself. It must mean that there was someone else trying to get in his mind," the professor noticed. "Someone must have administered him something, or he is unconscious. Both ways, his brainwaves are fainter than they already are with his shields, which makes him nearly undetectable by Cerebro."  
  
"So how are we going to find hi,m?" Scott asked, crossing his arms. "It means that he was captured!"  
  
"Yes, it's most probably what happened, but I don't see how Shawn could have let them catch him," the professor continued. "He would have sensed them."  
  
"Let's not dwell on that, we need to locate him and go get him before something bad happens," Ororo interrupted.  
  
"Jean, come with me, we'll try to locate him by combining our powers," the professor said, turning back to Cerebro, followed by the red-head.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Shawn woke up again, this time with a splitting headache. A flash of blue light was seen just before he opened his eyes, and he saw that he was in an empty white room. It obviously meant that he could use his powers.  
  
The walls were white and somewhat mushy, just like the floor. One of the walls was made of a glass panel, and people were obviously on the other side.  
  
Looking down at himself, he saw that he had been equipped with much less clothing than what he had been wearing before. He had no shirt or gloves, or anything on his head, but had his baggy pants and shoes.  
  
"Hello?" he asked in a shaky tone, his voice echoing inhumanly on the walls, as if searching for someone to hear him.  
  
"Your voice is filtered before reaching us, so feel free to speak, you're not harming anyone," a cold voice said. "Bet you couldn't do that with your little friends at the school, hun?"  
  
Shawn glared at the little speaker placed out of his reach in the far corner of the room, close to the ceiling.  
  
"Why did you bring me back here?" Nightmare asked, his voice echoing again, even if the room wasn't that big.  
  
"We are going to test your physical capabilities," the same cold voice answered. "Just as your father ordered, we will use the faster method."  
  
Shawn cursed as he started to make a few steps here and there. Before he could do anything else, a small door on the opposite wall opened and a tall, well-built man appeared in the entrance. Shawn smiled to himself, knowing that they hadn't administered him the serum that stopped his mutation, and turned around to look at the new-comer, but was stunned to see that nothing happened. The person wasn't affected by Nightmare's sight, and Shawn soon figured why: that thing was a machine.  
  
"Not good," whispered Shawn as the buff 'robot-man' approached and he instinctively backed up against the wall.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
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